


Incident

by Rioghna



Series: Falling [2]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV), Stargate Universe
Genre: Angst, F/M, One Shot, Past Rum/Belle relationship, Rush/Belle - Freeform, What Was I Thinking?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-07
Updated: 2014-12-07
Packaged: 2018-02-28 13:25:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2734226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rioghna/pseuds/Rioghna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The other side of 'Accident'.  Belle sees what happened completely differently.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Incident

Incident

Belle French paced her quarters aboard Destiny trying to get her thoughts in order. She'd always believed in doing the brave thing. She had once said that to Rumplestiltskin, 'do the brave thing and bravery will follow'. It seemed like a lifetime ago, and it was definitely in another world, but it hadn't helped this time. Bravery hadn't followed, only fear and shame. 

She had been working with Nicholas Rush since the moment she had come to the Stargate program and literally had the world explode from beneath her. She wasn't certain hat it was about Rush, but he reminded her of Rumple so much. Oh, not physically, lacking the scales, the curls and the impish cackle he had always used to keep people away. But there were similarities, the dark sense of humour, the obsession with knowledge, and something in his voice that she couldn't put a finger on that reminded her of the way he would talk to her when they were alone. It was enough that the first time they had met, when she was a Princeton, she'd excused herself halfway through the conversation they had both been dragged into and hidden in her room for two days, playing at being sick and crying. 

But at the time, the loss had been fresher. All she had been able to think of was her last kiss, the one they had shared before he had shoved her, literally, through the portal. It was in that moment that she had known that the magic wouldn't allow him to come with her, and that Rumplestiltskin had known all along. The image of her beloved imp turning, magic crackling from his long fingers to greet Regina and her forces as they attacked was the last thing she saw of home. Regina had been furious over her failure to cast the curse and she had determined to take it out on them. Of course Rumple had always been one for back up plans, and this one was specifically guaranteed to keep her safe, though he'd failed to tell her that.

So Belle had found herself landing in a strange world, on a rural road in the backwoods of Maine, with only the clothes on her back, a magical protective amulet around her neck, and a rucksack full of things that might be useful. The rucksack itself had been a magical item and had come in handy in so very many ways. If someone other than her looked into it, they only saw what they expected to see. A farmer in a truck had found her and given her a ride, and she had pretended amnesia when they wanted to know who she was, and where her identification papers were. 

It took a while, but after some searching and testing and about a hundred papers to be filled in, she had finally left her new friends behind with a new identity and only two things in mind, finding Rumple's son, and making a new life for herself. 

The first part had been almost easy, at least the finding. Getting Bae to listen to her had taken much longer. When she had finally, it broke the pain wide open, and they had both ended up mourning, clinging together on the broken down couch in his lower east side flat. With understanding had come friendship and understanding. He'd offered to help her out, help her find a place, but Belle knew it would be to easy for that to become a crutch. She needed to get on and find a new life, it was what Rumple would have wanted. Her concession, after finishing her undergraduate and graduate degrees had been Princeton, close enough to New York City to make Bae happy, far enough not to be a constant reminder. 

She'd done well, turned out early in her studies that she had a natural ability with languages and history. Those abilities had been what had brought Dr. Jackson to her door. When he had come calling, she had jumped at the opportunity. High tech Ancient aliens were about as far from the fairy tale world she had left behind as was possible. The rub had been Dr. Nicholas Rush. Working with him, she had found herself slipping back into patterns of behavior, manners of speech and teasing that she had established long ago with Rumple. Then the dreams had started, dreams of Nick, dreams of Rumple that morphed into Nick, the kind of dreams she never had of anyone else but the imp she loved. She had fought it, frantically and she wondered if he noticed the days when she couldn't look him in the face, the days when the slightest teasing would cause her to blush scarlet. But he was either oblivious or much better at hiding it, certainly he'd never shown any sign that he knew.

The stalemate had changed one night a couple of months ago. Belle had been upset about being bumped from the stones for yet another of Young's reports, this one on the microscopic alien lifeforms that had invaded their water supply, a situation he'd not even been on the ship to resolve. 

"Upset that you'll not be seeing your boyfriend is it then?" he'd sneered with a nasty hint of something.

"I don't have a 'boyfriend'," she growled at him. "I had a partner once, but he...died. I still email his son though. He's the only person I have on Earth, if you really want to know." She had turned abruptly back to her screen, tears pricking her eyes.

Rush had actually apologised then, been gentle with her. He'd pulled her away from the computer, telling her that the work would still be there. They had ended up on the observation deck with a couple glasses of Brody's 'gin'. For that one evening, he had been there. They had talked, him about his wife, her about Rumple, in the vaguest possible terms of course. But since that night, things had been different. He had been...not nice, that wouldn't be Rush, but they seemed to have broken through to something new. 

Which had led to her currently trying to wear a hole in the decking of her quarters. It had to be the sleep deprivation, the over work, she could find a million things but it wouldn't change the facts. They had found the key to cracking at least one part of the programing after thirty straight hours of work, when the rest of the team had given up and wandered off to bed long before. In her elation she had kissed him. 

One moment, they were looking at each other over the console, eyes filled with joy and the next she had been kissing him, losing herself in the feel and taste of the man who was not her true love. It was wonderful, a little tentative, a bit sloppy, but beautiful none the less. It was in that moment she realised she had moved on, that she was falling in love with Nicholas Rush, and it frightened her. Belle had pulled back, overwhelmed. She needed to get away from him, from it. She remembered making some lame excuse and then she had fled the room. 

That had bene two days ago. Belle had been avoiding him since, or possibly he had been avoiding her, she wasn't certain. But she knew that she needed to fix it and soon. They couldn't go on this way. Regardless of the outcome, she needed to try to fix things. She only hoped she hadn't destroyed the tentative friendship that they were building. If they could remain friends, that would be enough, or at least she hoped it was. For now, she needed a shower.

**Author's Note:**

> After writing Accident, I realised that it needed the other perspective. Please enjoy, read, review, all those other fun things that keep the muse happy.


End file.
